Fairest exchange

HOME COOKING: Louise and Richard Craig waited seven years for their kitchen extension which, says Heather Dixon, transformed their 17th-century cottage. Pictures by Colin Poole.

HEN their sons left home to follow a successful music career, Louise and Richard Craig knew the house would seem empty without them. So they put their energies into a project they had always dreamed of doing but never had time for: a livingkitchen extension.

“It might seem a bit strange to make the house bigger at the point where George and James were leaving home, but the old kitchen was really small and we wanted to create a proper living kitchen,” says Louise. “We love it when people drop in for coffee. The house seemed a bit quiet once the boys had left and we like the house to be full of life.”

The cottage’s welcoming atmosphere was one of the reasons Louise and Richard fell in love with it eight years ago.

“Its history was fascinating and we felt so instantly at home that we couldn’t resist it,” says Louise. Everything seemed to be on different levels and no two walls were straight, but that was exactly what we wanted.

The house was full of surprises. Once part of the Duncombe Park estate, it still retains its title deeds and down the centuries various occupiers have uncovered the layers of its rich history including the previous owners who discovered a musket ball buried in its walls.

It had been built on the site of a Norman church and still has a church rafter holding

Its history was fascinating and we felt so instantly

at home.

up the stairs, along with original wattle and daub in its walls. There is even a Victorian railway carriage in the garden which previous owners had used for storage. But they had very different taste to Louise and Richard inside the house.

“Everything was painted white and a lot of the rooms downstairs were used for storage or as offices, while the owners had lived upstairs. It also had a very small kitchen, which must have been added on when the original kitchen was turned into a shop. It was very difficult to see beyond all that and visualise the way it could look,” says Louise.

The couple decided not to do anything

Louise Craig in the living kitchen extension to the family cottage. She had always wanted an Aga. Lapicida supplied the Montpelier sandstone floor. The bespoke oak and hand painted units are from Hovingham Interiors of Malton. The table is from White...